a. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to automotive component manufacture and installation, and, more particularly to a method for producing tight bezel fits between automotive instrument panels and their surface mating subcomponents, and further to the same method as applied to automotive door inner liners (the interior show surface of an automotive door) and other structures requiring similar construction.
b. Description of Related Art
In the art, there presently exist a variety of methods, such as mold behind or vacuum wrapped technology, for manufacturing vehicle instrument panels and similar structures. Mold behind technology generally involves a single-step advanced injection-molding process that integrates cover materials to form the structure of automotive instrument panels, doors and the like. Vacuum wrapped technology, as discussed in detail in applicant's co-pending U.S. Application titled “Thermoforming of Ink Jet Printed Media for the Decoration of Soft Grained Automotive Interior Components,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, typically involves the wrapping of a substrate with heated thermoplastic (TP) bi-laminate sheet (most commonly consisting of a compact thermoplastic layer and a soft foam thermoplastic layer) for forming an automotive interior panel component, and evacuating the air from between the substrate and the sheet, such that atmospheric pressure pushes the sheet onto the mold, thereby stretching the sheet as required to form in three dimensions. An adhesive either on the substrate, or the bi-laminate sheet secures the wrapped layers to the structural substrate.
Regardless of whether mold behind or vacuum wrapped technology is employed, instrument panels constructed from such known technology have thus far been limited to large (i.e. >2.5 mm) radii and loose fit conditions. For example, referring to FIGS. 1–3, an instrument panel 10 including an object 12 (i.e. a side window defroster) mounted in gap 14 is illustrated. The geometry around instrument panel openings adjacent the edge mating surfaces of object 12 and instrument panel 10 at locations 16, 18 and 20, on injection mold behind foam laminate constructions and vacuum wrapped technology, has been thus far been severely limited (i.e. mating surface radii are typically >2.5 mm), thus greatly affecting fit and finish with the subcomponents. While such construction is acceptable for relatively inexpensive automobiles, for higher-end automobiles, a tighter fit construction (i.e. a mating surface radii between 0–0.5 mm) is required. Such fit requirements in higher-end automobiles have thus far required complex processes which add to the overall cost of the automobile due to the increased labor and manufacturing costs.
It would therefore be of benefit to provide an instrument panel construction method which achieves the fit constraints of higher-end automobiles, without significantly adding to the labor and manufacturing costs for such constructions in lower-end automobiles. It would also be of benefit to provide a construction method which is repeatable and readily usable for a variety of automobiles, and which produces an end-product which meets automotive safety and reliability criteria.